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on Wed Jun 15, 2011 9:34 am

The Amish, for those who don't know, continue to use archaic and inefficient technology in thier daily lives....from horse drawn buggies instead of cars to steer's and plough's for farming. They make thier own clothes, butcher thier own meat and have as many children as their incubating wives can handle.

Meanwhile, there are massive farming operations using cutting edge technology to produce large, healthy and efficient farms....there is an entire world of automation that brings to its users a much higher quality of life.

But what you never see are the Amish complaining that they can't compete, or that the technological world to which they do not belong is overpowered. But that's because they aren't competing and they are happy being the proverbial 21st century dinosaurs.

This analogy came to me while reading Syn's Famas story.We seem to choose some pseudo moral high road in the game....with so much pride and so much prejudice, with an obvious "us" vs "them" bias and mentality.

We generously light ourselves up on the UAV whenever we fire a weapon, when then same courtesy isn't extended to us by our silenced opponents.

We courteously use difficult weapons that have range limitations and personality disorders when others arm themselves with something failsafe and predictable.

We use an earned 3 killstreak reward to give our team a temporary 30 second advantage and are rendered impotent by something wholly unearned and permenant, and there is zero reciprocity from our opponents. They spend their streak and and are rewarded with 6 dots. The dots move fast, but at least clusters and movements are highlighted for those who are already not making forward progress. We encourage the 'wait and see' playstyle while we get wasted by someone who knew we were on our way.

You see, the Amish can use a combine to farm, and they can buy a Dodge Caravan to buy groceries and clothing at the store. But they choose not to. As a result, they may work 150% harder to accomplish only 50% of what a non-Amish person would. What they put into subsistence is so far out of balance with what they draw out that the entire economy of the lifestyle can't balance the other side of the ledger board.

But simply because they can adequately provide food, clothing and shelter for their families, I simply do not believe that the Amish are better because they can do this in spite of choosing to be inefficient, or because they shun assistive technologies, or because they have resisted those things that we use on a daily basis that dramatically simplify and improve our quality of life. I don't even think they are better off. They work harder, they work more and work much longer....but they have a lower quality of life....in spite of having a life expectancy that is on par with the rest of America.

Why do we North Americans peer down our noses at the archaic Amish lifestyle....but proudly become them when we turn on our gaming consoles?

on Wed Jun 15, 2011 10:17 am

Tell me that the Mac11 is on par with the Famas.Or that the Stakeout can compete with the 74u with RF.Or that the MP5 can run with the Aug.Or the MPL is in the same league with the Galil.

Tell me that, strategically, ghost is an inferior perk to, say, scavenger.Tell me that an unsilenced weapon has a tactical advantage over an unsilenced one.Tell me that running a UAV 3 streak in a lobby of ghosts is advantageous to the using team.

I'm not arguing that we can't beat the banal class setups. 99% of the time we can....but that's because we have a strong crew. I don't know if many 6 man crews have a tough time beating a random crew of 6. But the argument is more about the criticisms we maintain of the "OP" setups, because, by default, if there are "OP" setups, there are consequently, "UP", or underpowered ones as well.

The fact remains that we do occasionaly get beat, and we do lean on the same arguments about the Famas, the 74u and the ghost perk....as though using an underpowered class and losing is intrinsically better than resorting to a gun and class setup that is, by all standards, superior, and winning.

on Wed Jun 15, 2011 10:24 am

Take their religion out of the equation, and I have no problem being compared to the Amish. Actually doing work and getting results brings about a sense of accomplishment that can never be experienced by someone who was just handed the same outcome.

on Wed Jun 15, 2011 10:34 am

You know what? In other shooters, say Killzone for example, I have no problem running "mainstream classes" such as say Engineer. I can hack other people's turrets to become mine, build turrets, repair miniguns and WASP launchers, and also get to carry around one of the 3 top guns in the game along with a pistol that shoots shotgun shells. Lots of people run it because it is fun. But in the lobby, Engineer's don't go yelling that they are better because they got more kills. But in Black Ops, people who run Ghost and Famas do just that. Leaves a sour taste in my mouth, I don't wanna be like them AT ALL.

And even that analogy doesn't work much because the other classes in KZ have advantages which outweigh some of the Engineer advantages. Not many guns in Black Ops have more advantages than the Famas. But the thing about the people in the lobbies...that's true.

on Wed Jun 15, 2011 10:35 am

Xx_VetteDude_xX wrote:Except that we get more done than the "non-amish" COD players. Check the WL ratio of one of us who plays exclusively with a party (AKA not me...mine is like 1.5).

Maybe....but from what I've seen, there a plenty of teams and individuals we come up against that have good stats.

If their w/l is high, we just never even make mention it. If their KD is high, we call them a farmer. If they use a Famas/74u/Aug/Galil we criticize thier gun choice, especially if they have a high k/d.

My point is I'm noticing a trend in what we say and do....and I'm just as much, if not more, a part of it. We rail against everyone for everything. If it's not one thing it's another. We place such a high value on winning, but when people have a respectable w/l record and use a winning combination of perk and weapon choice to get there, we rail them for that as well.

If they happen to get beat and choose to not play us again, we mock their departure from the lobby....but we gtfo just as fast after the vast majority of our losses.

I'm reaching the apex of frustration with this game, and I don't want this to appear as me lashing out at my team...but I'm finding more and more that we're often the exact same people we complain about. If we start losing, we get campy. If we are getting beat, we go to the "tryhard" class. If we lose a match, we ditch the lobby to find another team to play.

There are a small handful of Alphas, Syndromes and Shadows in this game. People with fast reflexes, excellent game intuition, and superior skills and abilities. I'm not in that elite club and the vast mojority of us aren't either, and never will be....yet we hold everyone to that standard. I even hold myself to that standard--that I need to have a 2+ kd, and a 5+ w/l and a 20%+ accuracy.

Even with a better connection, I'll never be there and neither will 99% of COD players. I'm on board with Syn here, and probably the vast majority of people who play this game....play to win, play to have fun. Use what works to deliver you to that end. I can run an Uzi so that I can talk smack against the Famas user for his gun choice, but my 2-16 shouting doesn't reach his 16-2 ears.

on Wed Jun 15, 2011 10:43 am

Come play MW2 with me . Honestly the connection and hit detection is so good, it make Black Ops look like a shiny turd. It's nice shooting an M4 (My MW2 whore-out gun like the MP5k in BO) at people and not having to wait 2 seconds to see if they died (because detection and lag is so bad in BO). The reason you die so fast in MW2 is that the hit detection is impeccable, while BO involves LOTS of spraying.

on Wed Jun 15, 2011 11:10 am

I agree with Kaz in the way I feel myself becoming more like the people I send hatemail to. I have however, been more inclined to send a friendly 'thanks' or 'well played' to those few who I have deemed worthy of my respect because they too have placed upon themselves the burden of the M14 or Mac11 and still done well.

I think we should make an active effort in sending positive messages to those few people we see whose combat records have impressed us. Obviously we should still talk smack to the fuckwits with 2+ k/d and 0.5 w/l, but the carrot is better than the stick I think.

on Wed Jun 15, 2011 1:46 pm

on Wed Jun 15, 2011 1:51 pm

Im done not using weapons that were put in this game. The famas is unlocked at an early level for a reason. its an easy to use gun.

I will continue not using ghost, because it doesnt suit my playsttyle (unless im goin for pro ). I need Marathon to keep up and get kills. Therefore I need FJ to not get blowed up by Enemy Equipment while running Marathon. Or if im using a gun like PM63, ill use Scav because the ammo in the gun isnt sufficient. I dont use ghost, because I see no benefit for me.

Id rather run 4 streak and throw it up when I see the enemy get their 3. I play to win. Ive go the connection handcuffing already. Im done handcuffing myself.

Kaz that game we had last night against that 420 clan. Most of their members were moving. However the guy that kept getting me was that ptom whatever. That MF sat in corners the whole game. I think Im going to youtube his gameplay. He even said after the game "No i didnt. Ill take you to theater and show you myself". Or something like that. I was too ragein for that. And the thing that fueled my rage in that lobby even more.... was that team trying so HARD to get a 7th member of their party into our game. And when they did, the guy goes 3-11. This is the same guy who runs with this clan and has a 1.09 KD. REALLY got under my skin. Boosting at its worst. I would of been okay with the loss and done my usual griping. But placing a teammate onto our team and then having him tank?

Oh and you heard me ask that guy on our team why his teammate "ptom" (or whatever his name was) why he sits in corners so much. His response: "People play the game differently. Some sit in corners, some move around".